∎ Descargar Free The Marriage of Sticks Jonathan Carroll 9780312872434 Books

The Marriage of Sticks Jonathan Carroll 9780312872434 Books

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The Marriage of Sticks Jonathan Carroll 9780312872434 Books

Johnathan Carroll has become a favorite author - for sure in my top five. I follow a blog called browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com and it is filled with beautiful photography, and includes writings by Johnathan Carroll. This is where I was first introduced to this author. There were some quotes from this book, and I could not wait to order it! Actually my husband ordered it for me, so this rating should be under my name. It was a page turner and full of surprises. I could not wait to see where Carroll was going with it. There is fantasy, and I don't believe in some of the ideas in it, but kudos to the author who actually dreamed it all up! I read the jacket reviews and they were so accurate. "...delicious treats - with devilish tricks inside them." I was so impressed by the character descriptions which made you want to meet them even if they were fictional. It's truly a fantasy, but it grabs you instantly. Told by an experienced story teller. This book left me with a feeling of wanting to read anything he wrote!
Donna Bouma


Tags : The Marriage of Sticks [Jonathan Carroll] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>Miranda Romanac is a successful thirtysomething woman in today's modern world, yet she feels alone and adrift on the sea of her life. At her high school reunion she makes a shattering discovery that further undermines her already shaky sense of who she is and where she is going. When she meets the remarkable Hugh Oakley,Jonathan Carroll,The Marriage of Sticks,Tor Books,0312872437,Fantasy - Contemporary,Fantasy fiction,Fantasy fiction.,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,Fantasy,Fantasy - General,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction Fantasy Contemporary,Fiction Fantasy General,Fiction-Fantasy,GENERAL,General Adult,Science Fiction & Fantasy

The Marriage of Sticks Jonathan Carroll 9780312872434 Books Reviews

** WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS ** because I honestly don’t know how to talk about it without them.

This book is a contemporary surrealist fantasy. This book is about a woman confronted with her past and forced to accept responsibility for her past wrongs. This book is about love. This book is about… vampires?

While the writing was well done and at times brilliant, I found myself disturbed by the story. In the end, it left me with more questions than answers. Miranda is a thirty-three year old rare book dealer operating out of Manhattan. When she goes back to her high school reunion, she discovers her high school boyfriend has died in an auto accident. A few weeks later, she goes to a dinner party and meets Hugh, a former business acquaintance of her high school boyfriend. They end up falling in love and moving in together in an old house in the suburbs. Once in the house, Miranda starts to get strange visions and have ghostly encounters. Eventually, the people in her visions begin to lead her on a journey to discover something about herself. In one of the very last chapters of the books, Miranda discovers that she is… a vampire?? WTF????? Okay, not in the “I vant to suk ur blooood” way, but more like a psychic vampire who takes from others endlessly without giving back. Oh, and she is immortal in the fact that her soul can be reincarnated endless times, while the humans just fade into nothing at death.

I have several problems with this book. To be fair to the author, I don’t do well with surrealist fiction. It makes me feel like I’m living in one of those dreams that keeps going on and on without connecting in on itself in any linear fashion. I call it the funhouse effect. I also have an issue with Miranda’s “selfishness.” I didn’t think she was that bad of a person. It seems if the point of the story revolves around her being selfish, we should get more of that up front. To me she seemed like a normal woman who makes mistakes like everyone else. I also didn’t understand why certain characters aged (Declan) while others didn’t (Shumda). And the big reveal at the end that she was a vampire opened up more questions without giving a feeling of satisfaction.

While I had issues with the books, I have to admit that Carroll is a brilliant writer. His comments on Irish music and his story of the ill fitting suit were wonderful and I’ll remember them always. I would say that if you like surrealist fiction, then you would love this book. I think it was just not my thing.

Overall, I give The Marriage of Sticks…

Plot – 2 bookmarks
Character Development – 2 bookmarks
Writing Quality – 4 bookmarks
Love Story – 2 bookmarks
Interpretation of Vampire Lore – 1 bookmark (Could have been really cool and inventive if given more time in the book. Instead, it cropped up right at the end and wasn’t fleshed out well.)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – The physical looks of the characters were not described to the point that I could get a picture of them. Here is who I ended up with based on my own thoughts. Hugh Laurie (Hugh – basically because of the name), River Phoenix (James), Hilary Swank (Miranda).
Nobody disputes Jonathan Carroll's writing ability. He has a wonderful style and paints word portraits deftly. Some might not appreciate that surrealist elements appear in an otherwise straightforward novel. My mother, for example, hates anything that is animated or allegorical. She likes reality. I, on the other hand, enjoy the odd whimsy, the burning questions, the what-the-heck-was-that element of surprise that inhabits Carroll's narrative. He is a pleasure to read, at all times, period.

This story is told in the first person by Miranda, a dealer in antiquities and oddities for eccentric Manhattanites. A high school reunion starts us off, as we join our angsty but mainly sympathetic narrator in media res, just before she meets the love of her life -- a married man. Miranda knows lots of interesting people who do interesting things, and she is about to have some amazing things happen to her.

Whether or not you think you might not enjoy magical elements with your fiction, Carroll is a gifted writer with a fascinating story to tell -- what's not to enjoy? I am going to give my mother a copy and see if I can win her over to the surreal side. You should take a chance too!
For over 10 years I have read and enjoyed Carroll's novels. Every one gives you the same sensation things start out seemingly normal until little by little odd things start to happen. In this sense, he reminds me of Rachel Ingalls, another one of my favorite but obscure writers. Because the odd things creep up slowly, everything seems plausible until you end up in a mind-blowing fantasy world and wonder how the heck you got there! Elevators open up into other epochs, animals talk and people look strangely familiar even though you have never met them before. I have never read a Carroll novel in more than 1 sitting once you start, you are completely hooked until the end. I can't understand why he's not one of the most famous writers in the USA -- he's very popular in Europe (lives in Vienna), but here you can barely find his books -- all his classics except a few recent ones are out of print. Do yourself a favor and read his latest one, The Marriage of Sticks, as an introduction -- it's excellent, although others are better. I love Bones of the Moon and Voices of our Shadow the most. He inspires all sorts of subversive thoughts -- in my case, Carroll makes me wish I'd stolen the public library copies I found of all his old books. Seek out all his books and let's bring Carroll back to mainstream America. He'll change how you think.
I began my Jonathan Carroll journey with The Land Of Laughs and of course became obsessed. I read The Marriage of Sticks next and it floored me. I felt like Carroll had been stalking my inner thoughts and with that knowledge, wrote this book. It moved me emotionally many times which is somtimes inconvenient because I read at work. I adored this book. To say more might give spoilers so I will simply say take a chance on this book. So worth it.
Johnathan Carroll has become a favorite author - for sure in my top five. I follow a blog called browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com and it is filled with beautiful photography, and includes writings by Johnathan Carroll. This is where I was first introduced to this author. There were some quotes from this book, and I could not wait to order it! Actually my husband ordered it for me, so this rating should be under my name. It was a page turner and full of surprises. I could not wait to see where Carroll was going with it. There is fantasy, and I don't believe in some of the ideas in it, but kudos to the author who actually dreamed it all up! I read the jacket reviews and they were so accurate. "...delicious treats - with devilish tricks inside them." I was so impressed by the character descriptions which made you want to meet them even if they were fictional. It's truly a fantasy, but it grabs you instantly. Told by an experienced story teller. This book left me with a feeling of wanting to read anything he wrote!
Donna Bouma